Finn and Santana returned to McKinley three days later and from what Sugar heard, Finn apparently had been getting the silent treatment from Kurt ever since Salazar's video was shown in the choir room. Rachel too seemed to be a little short with him, but it was evident he regretted his actions, especially when the Troubletones were called into the choir room a day after Santana's return and told to take a seat, much like they had been for the video.
Finn was the one standing in front of the group now, and Santana glared daggers at him as she took a seat in the front, Brittany and Sugar on either side of her. "I screwed up," he started blatantly. "I mean, we both screwed up but I screwed up worse than you and I'm sorry. I really am. Kurt and Burt talked to me at home… well, mostly Burt did, but they made me realize that it wasn't okay to do what I did." He took a deep breath. "So…I thought maybe to make it up to you we could have a Glee assignment to show our support. Just so you know that we're there for you." He gestured to the board behind him, where "Lady Music Week" had been written.
Santana scoffed. "Please. If you think that some stupid song from you is going to make me forgive you for what you did, you've got another slap to the face coming, Blubber-Belly. You stay away from me." She lifted her nose in the air. "The rest of you can feel free to shower me with gifts as long as Finn isn't involved. I'm going to need cheering up this week anyway."
Will sighed. "Santana, please don't call Finn names. Finn, if Santana doesn't want you to sing a song to her, we should honor that request."
Finn frowned. "Alright. I guess I understand. I just figured it'd be something nice to do after I-"
"-Outed me to the entire school and potentially ruined my life?" Santana finished. "Yeah. Thanks for the thought. Would've been nice if you had been this considerate about a week ago. Can we go now? The Troubletones need to prepare to crush you guys at Sectionals…not that we need the practice to do that, but frankly I'd just rather anyone who isn't Brittany stay away from me right now." She stood up and left the room without waiting for a response, and Brittany watched her go with disappointment.
Will spoke up in the silence that followed her departure. "Brittany, clearly you're the only person Santana's willing to open up around. I know everyone from New Directions is eager to show their support in the best way they know how, and I'm sure the Troubletones are as well. Maybe you should come up with a song to sing and go first, to get her to warm up to the idea?"
Brittany nodded thoughtfully, mulling it over, and then smiled after a moment. "Okay. I can do that."
¡¿Sabes qué? ¡Yo soy de Lima Heights Adjacent! ¡¿Conoces quién es mi padre? ¡Tengo hojas de afeitar en mi-hey! ¡Vuelve aquí y lucharme te patético poco-!"
Sugar let out a loud "oof" as Santana accidentally elbowed her in the stomach, nearly losing her grip on the girl as she lashed out again at the jock currently fleeing away from them down the hallway.
"¡Sí, es cierto, es mejor que correr!"
"Santana," Sugar wheezed out as her ribs throbbed painfully and her arms were strained even further around Santana's midsection. "Let him go. He's stupid."
"You let me go," Santana insisted, trying to pry Sugar's arms away. "All it takes is one example-"
"You're not gonna make an example out of him," Sugar insisted. "I know guys like him are asses but we're supposed to go meet New Directions and the Troubletones in the choir room, remember? It's important."
"Oh, like repaying a visit to the idiot who caused all this is supposed to be my motivation for not kicking ass?" Santana retorted incredulously, finally extricating herself from Sugar's grip and spinning around to face her, arms crossed. "I don't see why you had to be the one to come drag me there anyway. Where's Brittany?"
"She's busy. And waiting for you. It's a surprise."
"I've had enough surprises to last a lifetime, thanks," Santana sneered. "So unless she's found a way to stop that tape from airing in three days, I think I'll just be going n-"
"Nope," Sugar cut in, hurrying after Santana and grabbing her shoulders to steer her in a different direction.
"Stop touching me," Santana snapped even as she let Sugar push her down a new hallway. "Seriously. Your mani's terrible and I don't want it anywhere near me, and I don't want to spend any more time with the Peanut Gallery than I already have in the past two years. Just go tell Ms. Corcoran to get the Troubletones and meet me in the-"
"No way," Sugar cut her off. "They sent me to come find you and bring you back and I'm not going to let them down."
"What idiot decided to send you?"
"Well… I volunteered," Sugar corrected. "But that's not the point. Brittany wants you to go, so I know you'll go."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana retorted indignantly. "I'm not-"
"Aaaaand here we are," Sugar interrupted, stopping Santana as they reached the doorway to the choir room. Brittany lit up when she saw them and immediately hurried over to pull Santana inside the room, but not before the darker girl managed a quick glare at Sugar, who simply followed them inside with a smile.
"Okay, I showed up for Happy Hour. Can I go now? I've got this giant whale-sized blind spot directly in my line of vision and I probably need to get it checked out," Santana told them as she completely ignored an apologetic-looking Finn who had stepped forward to say something to her. Grudgingly he moved back to his seat and Santana faked cheerfulness. "Oh, look; all better. Anyway, I'll see the rest of you at Sectionals in a couple weeks. Bye."
Sugar blocked the doorway hastily as Santana tried to leave , and even Will and Shelby looked mildly amused by the look on Santana's face.
"Out of the way, Floo Powder."
Sugar shook her head simply and shot a look Brittany's way, who immediately came over to take Santana's hand again and gently tugged her to the front row of seats on the other side of the room.
"Come on, Santana," she prodded. "Just sit down for a sec."
"Tell me what's going on, first," Santana insisted, pulling away. "Seriously, you can't just get the lapdog to bring me here and then spring the Blind Spot and the lameness that is our old Glee club on me-"
"Santana," Will warned.
"Seriously, you guys suck," Santana told him matter-of-factly, before returning her attention to Brittany. "What's going on?"
Brittany bit her lip, then looked over Santana's shoulder at Shelby, who gave her an encouraging nod. "I know you don't like Finn's idea-"
"Who?" Santana questioned with feigned cluelessness. Brittany smiled at her knowingly.
"-but we all love you and we want to show you." She looked down, then, toeing the ground shyly with the tip of her Cheerios sneaker. "And I love you the most of course… soooo I wanted to go first."
"Brittany and I spent all afternoon practicing yesterday with the New Directions band," Shelby input from behind Santana. "They've all been working very hard."
Santana let out a heavy sigh, taking a long time to think it over, then finally shrugged, resigned, and turned to glare at the rest of the people in the room. "Pick the one person I can't say no to. Nice."
Brittany clapped happily, grinning, and Sugar bit her lip to hide a smile as she scrambled into a front-row seat. Santana gingerly sat down beside her while Brittany set up a stool at the front of the room. "This song is by the most legendary singer of our time besides Ke$ha," Brittany introduced once she'd taken her seat, and then the band began to play.
Elevator buttons and morning air
Strangers' silence makes me wanna take the stairs
If you were here we'd laugh about their vacant stares
But right now my time is theirs
Sugar had never heard the song before, but judging by Santana's eye-roll and tiny smile, she figured it was probably a song Brittany loved by an artist Santana hated. It figured even as teenagers their musical choices would be polar opposites. The car radio was more fought over than the remote control in the Pierce-Lopez household.
Seems like there's always someone who disapproves
They'll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury's out, my choice is you
She was beginning to get the relevance of the song choice now, and Santana seemed to be, too, because her eyes were locked with Brittany's now and the patronized expression was gone. Sugar heard a sniff from somewhere behind her and nearly turned around, but she didn't want to miss a moment of the song. There was about a ninety-percent chance it was Rachel anyway. Or maybe Kurt.
So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high
The water's rough
But this love is ours
There was a break for music and Brittany slipped off of her stool and resolutely dragged it over to directly in front of Santana, planting it there and then taking her seat again. She gestured for Santana to stand up and received an embarrassed head-shake in response.
"C'mon," Brittany tried again, grinning and reaching down to grab Santana's hand. "It's just our friends." She pulled Santana to her feet while she remained seated on the stool, leaving them at an almost even height, and then joined both of their hands as the song continued, singing with their faces less than a foot apart.
And it's not theirs to speculate if it's wrong and
Your hands are tough but they are where mine belong and
I'll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you
She squeezed Santana's hands with another playful grin and received a shy smile as Santana looked back down at their hands and chewed on her lip.
Cause I love the gap between your teeth
And I love the riddles that you speak
And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored
Cause my heart is yours
Brittany let out a little giggle and Sugar saw Santana's eyes getting watery. She chanced a glance around them and saw everyone else beaming as they looked on, with the exception of Rachel, who was swatting Finn's comforting arm away from her while digging through her purse for a Kleenex, and Rory, who looked a little jealous. Sugar made a mental note to handle that later.
So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
Don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
But they can't take what's ours
They can't take what's ours
Eyebrows furrowed in concentration, Brittany carefully rearranged their hands so that their fingers were laced together, and when she was done, raised her head again and finished the song gently, almost like it was an afterthought, or a sigh.
The stakes are high
The water's rough
But this love is ours
The entire club gave a rousing applause as Brittany hopped off of the stool to stand directly in front of Santana, their hands still joined as a proud but slightly nervous grin spread across her lips. Eventually the applause stopped as everyone eagerly awaited a reaction, and Santana let out a tiny sniff, finally raising her eyes to meet Brittany's. Brittany's grin faded slightly when she noticed Santana looked to be on the verge of tears. "Uh. The end?" she finally offered, smiling again, hopefully. Santana watched her carefully with misty eyes as Brittany continued, "So if it totally sucked this was Mr. Schue's idea. I mean Rachel's. I mean not mine. Finn's. Um."
Santana cut her off with a quick chuckle and a mumbled "Stop", before standing on her toes and leaning in to kiss Brittany fully on the lips. Sugar's jaw dropped and Puck wolf-whistled in the back row until Mercedes elbowed him in the gut. Will and Shelby watched on with raised eyebrows as Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana's midsection and Santana reached up to rest her arms on Brittany's shoulders and hooked her hands somewhere behind her neck. They pulled each other closer.
"Okay, that's enough," Will interrupted nervously, rushing forward to pull them apart.
Sugar looked on in amusement as Will awkwardly broke up the kiss, then scanned the happy faces of her classmates with pride.
"Mission accomplished."